Names
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They are sometimes called Alligator Gar or needle fish but Long Tom is the most common. Their family name is Belonidae.
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Description
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Long Toms are long,slender fishand they have twolong jaws with sharp teeth. They are sometimes mixed up with the garfish which only has a lower jaw.Long Toms can grow much bigger that a garfish.The colour ranges from blue to black on the back.
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Size
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Long Toms can grow up to lengths of 1.7m and weight of 5kgs.But the common weight is around 2 kgs and less.
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Habits
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The Long Tom is mainly a surface feeder. They either swim in groups or alone.
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Fishing
Techniques
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The Long Tom sometimes takes artifical baits.Fish meat,prawn meat is the common bait used but I have seen them gorging bread.Ensure that hooks are very sharp.They give resonably good sport on light line but they tend to be tired out very fast.
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Eating
Qualities
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Long Toms meat are reasonable but there tends to have little meat on them. They are commonly used as bait or live baits.
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